New Delhi. The Asia Cup is starting from August 30. As soon as the name of the tournament comes, the first thing that comes to mind is the India-Pakistan Railway War. Whenever these two teams face each other on the cricket field, absolute thrill and action is guaranteed. This has happened many times in the Asia Cup as well and cricket fans have witnessed memorable matches between the two teams. This time the two teams will clash on September 2 in Kandy.
Both India-Pakistan teams are part of Group-A. Nepal is the third team in this. If both the teams manage to beat Nepal then September 10 could see a high voltage contest between India and Pakistan once again. After this there can be a clash between India and Pakistan in the final as well. That means these two teams can face each other three times in 20 days.
India and Pakistan clashed for the first time in 1984 in the Asia Cup. A total of 13 matches have been played so far. India has won 7th and Pakistan 5th. It means that India has the upper hand. It is not that the Asia Cup only sees India-Pakistan face-to-face. This time in the Asia Cup, every cricket action can be seen in 3 more matches. Apart from the ball-bat battle in the field, verbal arrows can also be seen moving. As per last year’s Asia Cup, the fans are guaranteed to be thoroughly entertained and in many cases the India-Pakistan rivalry will also fade away.
Will Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict be fierce?
However, this time in the Asia Cup, Pakistan and Afghanistan are in different groups. But, there may be a clash between these two teams in the Super-4. If this happens, fans will see a war of words without bat and ball. In the last Asia Cup, when the two teams faced each other, there were fights.
In the Super-4 match of the Asia Cup last year, Pakistan batsman Asif Ali also raised his bat to hit Afghanistan fast bowler Farid Ahmed. But, the Afghanistan players somehow intervened and calmed the controversy. Otherwise, the reputation of the gentleman’s game would have been tarnished. This time, if there is a clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, it will not be surprising to see such a scene. Because even in the three ODI series played between the two teams in Sri Lanka before the Asia Cup, there were many times heated between the players of the two teams.
Have you forgotten the naagin dance?
In addition to Pakistan-Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can have full money fights. There have been many such matches between these two teams in the past, when the cricket was left to question and there were more discussions about the antics of the players of both the teams. Do you remember the Naagin dance? Otherwise, we refresh his memories. In their last group match in the Asia Cup last year, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 2 wickets to make it to the Super-4 and Bangladesh crashed out of the tournament. After Sri Lanka’s victory, Chamika Karunaratne started dancing Naagin. Her dance video became very popular on social media.
Earlier in 2018, the Nagin dance was in the news during the Nidahas Trophy match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka lost to Bangladesh in that match. The Sri Lankan team was eliminated from the tournament. After this, Bangladeshi players performed naagin dance in the field. That is, whenever these two teams face each other, there is drama outside of cricket.
And yes, recently Afghanistan beat Bangladesh at home. In such a situation, the competition between these two teams during the Asia Cup can also become interesting.
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Tags: Afghanistan vs Pakistan, Asia Cup, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, India Vs Pakistan, Pakistan vs Bangladesh
First published: August 29, 2023, 14:05 IST